English
Makerfield
Makerfield may come from Old English *Macerfelth.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*Macerfelthuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 2026Makerfield
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*Macerfelthuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 2026Makerfield
Earliest quotation: 2026, Pippa Crerar, Burnham and Starmer hold ‘frosty’ meeting to thrash out tran: “Keir Starmer has met Andy Burnham for the first…”
A compound of maceria ‘wall or enclosure made of brick or clay’ + feld ‘a field’
Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- ‘flat’
Proto-Indo-European *pelth₂- ‘field, plain’
Proto-Germanic *felþuz ‘field, plain’
Proto-West Germanic *felþu ‘field’
Old English feld ‘a field’
The story
Recorded by Bede as Maserfelth (c. 730 AD), apparently a miscopying of Old English *Macerfelth.
Every English word from Old English *Macerfelth
Today it means
name An area in northwest England, now split between the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester and the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside, both within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English *Macerfelth / Makerfield